Story Thread 4: This Would Be Telling

Actually, Wyatt Earp died of old age, happily married. That's one of the most amazing things about him - despite his long range war with the Clantons and McClowrys and all the other gunfights he ever got into, he was never so much as grazed by a bullet. Our Wyatt had a very different end.

I'm very interested in old west history and also know quite a lot about it. And I agree, it's so amazing that he only died of old age.

Gonna jump out of order here, because some of these demand immediate attention.

Dude, i wasn't mad either. No worries. And sorry to peeve you, too - no offense intended. I never thought anyone who played through Marleybone could ask :man, where's the Armada in this game?" If Beachhead, the isle of Fetch, and Trafalgar didn't satisfy your Armada cravings for at least a little while, I don't know what to tell you... except that there will be more than a little Armada action in Book 15, though it'll be pretty... different.

Thanks for being so cool about it. I totally forgot about Marleybone because I finished my Witchdoctor account (my level 65) and started my Buccaneer (my level 27), it's kind of hard to remember other aspects of the game when your focusing on another I guess . I also really do love the creativity of the Armada and the Armada in general.

1. In the result of Ratbeard's third promotion, I noticed he now has a hook for a leftie. This left me to wonder, did Ratbeard lose his hand, or is it a battle hook that goes over the hand?This has been asked on a few occasions before. It's technically an error on my part - the character was designed and built a LONG time ago, before we even knew we were doing promotion quests. A cool hook hand seemed to be a nice upgrade for the new stage. When the time came to write the quest, having Ratbeard lose the hand never seemed appropriate, and there wasn't an easy spot to do it. I loved the quest idea too much to change it, and bandwidth didn't permit changing the character. So there ya go. I like your battle hook idea - I think that may be what i say the next time somebody asks!

2.Might we end going to a comic book super hero-ish world?I don't think so - we stretch things a bit going to more fantastic worlds like Aquila, but i think sci-fi or comics would be a Stormgate too far.3. Might we get a companion based off of Batman?Well, you can argue El Toro and Batman share a common ancestor. But overtly Batman? Nope.

4. Or Superman?I think Hawkules is the closest we're going to get.

5. Can we ever expect entire arcs or books to take place on a world we've already visited again?World, yes. Skyway, unlikely - it's very hard to cram lots of content into a space we've already crammed lots of content into.

1. Who is Warty Willy? I see his wanted sign everywhere in Cool Ranch but if my memories correct we never meet him.He's a really nasty Banditoad, of course! So nasty, that he spends all his time hiding from the Frogerales. They have really rotten luck finding him. But then, they never were very efficient... No, we never meet him.

2. I asked this question before but fear it might have been lost in a bunch of other posts so you didn't see it. Here it is: Will we ever see Boochbeard and Gandry in person again? I think I did finally get to this one - it didn't get lost, I got busy. To recap: the role they evolved into makes them problematic to put into standard quest content, but I'm looking into creating a context in which they could appear in game again.

1. will monkey king get a promotion quest in the next major update?He's getting due for one, that's for sure. I cannot confirm when it will fall.

2. has our dad ever been to el dorado? where did our parents come from exactly?Not that we've established. As to your parent's origins, we've yet to spell that out. It hasn't mattered yet...

3. why hasn't the black lotus, the amber horde, or the inoshishi gone off when we had already defeated their masters?Story reason: I figure there were an awful lot of them, and even if their main plot is defeated, there's still a lot of work left to be done before they're totally eradicated.Game reason: Because in MMOs its really tricky to make them go away. And if we took them out, it'd make it really hard for you to help lower level players defeat them after you were done.

4. where did captain kid come from? my guess is cool ranch.Good guess, but I'd put my Money on some part of Marleybone we haven't seen yet.

5. is kent a world or a place in marleybone?I thought we'd specified that... It's not a world.

6. will it be possible if we ever visit nodor?Anything is possible. The question is how likely something is...

7. when we go to valencia in the next update, which stormgate will we be going through: skull island or mooshu?Who said we were going to Valencia in the next update? 8. speaking of the valencia stormgates, will we be going through one particular skyway right before reaching valencia? example: we went to dragonspyre before valencia. maybe we could go through polaris or khrysalis.Whenever we go back, I can confirm we won't be going back the way you went before.

I'm a first time poster so go easy on me should any of my questions require answers that would be telling.

1) I would first like to ask, where do you find all these amazing people to do the voices of everyone?! It's simply stunning in the range of them! Even for small parts! Wow!

2) And how do you come up with all the cool looks for the characters?

3) If El Toro is a takeoff of Zoro, that got me thinking, what about a character later on in the game, (after you get El Toro), based off The Lone Ranger?! I mean, if the description for El Toro is someone who wheres a mask and fights for justice, why not do the other masked crime fighter that there are many stories about? What do you think?

4) If I were to write a story outside fan fiction about sky pirates like the ones on p101, would you have any suggestions on how I could differ the story enough to make it different?

5) While on the topic of differing trademarked things, would you ever do a character based off Captain Jack Sparrow?! I know it belongs to Disney, but you have him listed in the pirate lore library on the site, and some of the other pirates listed there have parts in the game, so....

6) I have noticed SO MANY takeoffs in the game so far that I'm not quite sure others have caught, like The Rat Pack, (yes I know about the actual Rat Pack), Buster Crab and so many others. But I'm only at lvl 12, so I was wondering if you could tell me, are there more old gags like this later in the game?

At the end of Aquila, the note says to find this "Calistrago G" (I think that's how you spell it), but it doesn't exactly say where... (Sorry if they already said it, I'm having troubles remembering the story because it was so long ago *cough* *cough*)

Throughout the game, we interact with "spirit" characters, meaning ghosts of the dead that remain in some sort of interactive form. Yet there doesn't seem to be a set means by which a character, upon dying, becomes a "spirit". I'm curious about whether there are set rules around "spirits" in the P101 universe, or whether it's done randomly to fit the needs of a certain story or activity. Simply put, what allows certain characters that have died to become "spirits" while others do not?

does captain Avery knew our pirates mom? like did he had a crush on her? or were they just good friends?Cool idea! Also, kudos on your forum name. I expect Avery did know the pirate's parents - at least by reputation if not directly. I expect they worked together in the past. Some kind of romantic relationship? Unsure about that one - it seems to me sh'd be a bit young for him. Now, as to why Avery hasn't ever talked about your parents, that's an interesting question...

1. I'm hypothesizing( not guessing, as it's a educated one) that we are headed to Valencia and Cadiz. ( the C.) You gave away a huge hint that Vl is next with G's letter, and Avery practically tells you that Valencia's next. Why make such a obvious ploy?Thos are both very decent assumptions. As I've said before, the ending of AQ does pretty much spell out where the next Book will be heading (although, as is my wont, I reserve the right to make the trip a little circuitous - getting there is half the fun, after all). As to why we spelled it out, I thought it made a decent cliffhanger as was. I think One-Eyed Jack disagreed, and the number of poster who didn't make the inference appealed to my endless hunger for being mischievous with hints.

2.Can the Conqueroo bundle be online? I live in a part of the US with practically no Walmarts, and it being online like the Admiral Bundle would be swell.I don't know - that's a marketing thing, way outside my purview. 3.Also, in the first Musing, you told Cpt. Flint when you came up with Armada ideas, you gave an example of Public Relations. As every other Elite's role is played, she ( no name guessing here) is obviously Public Relations., unless you scrapped that concept. Of course, you can't confirm or deny here, but whatevs.I cannot confirm or deny. So sorry. Phule could be public relations - though I wonder how good he'd be at it...

4.Are any fan made ideas up your sleeve? Zafaria (Zebfrica in the board concept) was one, so KI does look at that stuff and make it, unlike other companies ( HEM HEM looking at you Riot), so it's a possibility. Right?I try to stay away from that sort of thing - I don't want to inadvertently upset somebody by not doing their idea the way they wanted it. There is often some overlap between our ideas and fan ideas, but that's often coincidence of parallel evolution.

So I have seen some posts about the tigers in Marleybone signify an Indian culture that was colonized by Great Britain. My question about the story line is did you get the inspiration for the tiger revolt over the rations not being bad enough from the real Sepoy Rebellion of 1857. If so I found this part of the game really great with its funny twists on real history.

A military mutiny arising from violation of a dietary cultural taboo? Why yes, the Sepoy Rebellion was the direct inspiration for that bit (though having the troops clamoring for bad food was a nifty joke, I thought). I try to bring a little history in whenever I can - I got my degree in history, and was planning to be a social studies teacher before games came in and scooped up my life.

1. Is Monquista based off of Spain or France, or is it a combination of the two? While the name "Monquistador" (not sure if I spelled this right) is obviously a play off Conquistador from Spain, and they have the right superior attitude as Spain did during that imperialistic time. But then one day I had the sound on, and the French accents through me off a bit. Unless my mind is completely playing tricks on me, as I usually don't play with the sound on, and I'm simply remembering this incorrectly. Though I also don't know much about politics during that time period, could the civil war we start, be a reference to the French civil war?

2. This question might end up being a bit long. While History has always been the subject I struggle most in, I find the history references in Pirate101 intriguing. So I'm curious how much of this I've gotten right, just from what knowledge I do have.The story is set during the age of exploration.Skull Island I would guess is based more off of South America, or the islands, with the tropical regions and Aztec-like ruins. Making the ideal spot for pirates as well as the great powers like Marleybone(England), Monquistan(Spain), racing to claim land and set up colonies to expand their "empires".Cool Ranch is the North American counter part. Although the time periods don't match up quite right it seems, as the expansions "out west" did not occur till much later. Of course this is a game, so what does it matter, but it makes me curious where the settler chickens first originated from.Then Velencia I would guess is Italy, though I'm not sure the armada matches up with any real "villain" in history during that time.Mooshu is Asia, but I don't see any events that occur there matching up with history of that time. It does tie in with the Wizard story of Malistaire though.Aquila is Greece, unfortunately I haven't quested that far yet, so I don't know much of the story there.To be continued.

Let me preface this by saying a lot of the questions you ask here have been asked, someof them many times, in the previous threads - some has spawned entire threads of their own. That said, I realize it's a lot to wade through, so I'll wade in.

1. Will book 15 take us to the unnamed skyways in Monquista, Valencia, and Mooshu, or will it takes us to a new world through an unnamed stormgate like the one in Avernus If the second one is done, will it take us to a new area are one mentioned before like Rajah or DarkmoorThere's a very strong hint about where Book 15 is going, right at the end of Book 14.

2. Will there be a point where we might have to fight Avery or have a strange plot twist like Avery actually being Kane in disguiseWow, I don't know what it is with Kane being somebody in disguise (or somebody using Kane as a disguise) - it seems there's a whole constellation of fan theories about that idea. I think Avery's arc is turning toward redemption: as the struggle against the Armada goes on, he's being forced to take sides. So an eventual fight against him strikes me as unlikely. But not impossible...

3. What is the name of the unnamed Clockwork in the puppet show about the Armada next to Kane Follow-up question, will we encounter her in the next area, or will it be bishop or phule again or will the Armada re-build Deacon and/or RookeEither you're very new here, or going for the hail Mary pass. That would be telling. As to which elites may or may not be encountered in the next area, that would also be telling.

4. If we do return to Mooshu, will the blocked entrance in Hamamitsu Skyway be a way to the Jade PalaceIt is a way to the Jade palace. Whether or not we ever use it is a difficult question. We simply can't send pirates into areas where wizards are - current tech simply doesn't allow it. So I'm always inclined instead to opt for a different Skyway or area - we do the same thing in Marleybone.

5. When we eventually fight Kane, wouldn't it be neat if he revived his inner circle and we had to fight all six of them one by one, then all togetherThat would certainly be a nasty twist, and an amazingly difficult gauntlet.

6. In the Tribal Crew Booster Pack, could you guys up the chance for the Azteca companions a little bit because I've bought about one hundred of them and keep getting the same things just at different level requirementsThat's a marketing decision - way outside my purview. I'd ask Jack about that.7. In the future, will there be a point where the Armada will steal the map from us and beat us to El DoradoAnother nasty twist - I cannot confim or deny that, other than to say that Kane does have a plan - and when it springs into action it's going to make things very difficult for your pirate.8. In the letter that Marco Pollo sent to Merle Ambrose, it said that his crew and him almost died in El Dorado could the "thing" that almost killed Marco Pollo and his crew be the Armada who could've followed him there but were forced to retreat or maybe the dragon titan from dragonspyrePollo's expedition happened a LONG time ago - before the Armada was ever created. The dragon titan? It would cwertainly fit the bill, though it seems a tad farfetched. Also, us tying the end goal of our game to a monster so integral to Wizard seems like it would dilute the weight of our plot too much - very unlikely.9. This last one is just a suspicion, but could Kane actually be a human in a robot suit like a juggernaut and possibly have been a member of Marco Pollo's crew and mutinied and tried to steal his map and got kicked off Marco Pollo's crew?Here we go, Kane's a disguise. There's much more about Kane's origins and Pollo's crew that's waiting to be revealed. The readiness is all - please be patient and we'll get to it.

Gonna jump out of order here, because some of these demand immediate attention.

Dude, i wasn't mad either. No worries. And sorry to peeve you, too - no offense intended. I never thought anyone who played through Marleybone could ask :man, where's the Armada in this game?" If Beachhead, the isle of Fetch, and Trafalgar didn't satisfy your Armada cravings for at least a little while, I don't know what to tell you... except that there will be more than a little Armada action in Book 15, though it'll be pretty... different.

Uh, didn't you answer my questions yet, Blind Mew? I asked you some questions, but you were busy.

3. Another thing I love about the KingsIsle games, is the fan fiction the players produce. The world you've created, The Spiral, is so unique with so much room for creativity, there are an infinite amount of stories and characters that can be produced. I read and write my own fan fiction based off the two games, and it's even what prompted me to join the fan sites in the first place. So my question to you, do you like to read player written fan fiction? And if so, what do you enjoy most about it?

4. I just started work towards a degree to get into game production. I'm going more towards the game art (I've always been absolutely in love with concept art and the idea of creating some of the beautiful graphics I see in games). And I actually have Wizard101 to thank for starting me on this track. Before I discovered the KingsIsle games, I thought video games were just boring.. Car racing games and whatnot (no offense if you like car races). But now I can't get enough of the creative and interactive worlds, stories, and characters that make up a good game.So I have a couple questions for you, as part of the game creating team .A) You said earlier that you originally wanted to become a Social Studies teacher, what changed your mind? I was originally debating over teaching art, possibly at high school level, before deciding on this career path.B) KingIsle has become a successful company, and I would be thrilled to work there some day. You said you were brought on to work on Pirate101, did you start out working on other games first? Did you have to start out small somewhere?C) I've browsed around the different types of jobs and requirements that KingsIsle is looking for, to get a good idea of how a game company works, and I've notice there are often internships. I've considered applying for one, one Summer maybe. While I know the more experience the better, would you think it's worth it to apply? If I can get the funds to stay in Texas for a summer, that is.

1. I've noticed on several quests, many worlds are mentioned that our pirate has not gone to. These consist of; Polaris, Darkmoor, Krokotopia, and Rajah. Any chance at least one of these worlds will be visited in the Kane arc?The main reason we do this (other than fueling rabid community expectations, of course), is to make the Spiral feel bigger than what you get to see. Some place, therefore, may never get visited, and remain the mysterious provinces of our (and your) imaginations. But to answer our question directly: yes. Not only is there a chance, but it will happen. Which one (or ones)? That would be telling.

2. In Lucky Jack Russell's second promotion quest, the main topic is of the conundrum machines. These(if I'm not mistaken), are full of the same information on each one, written in a code. Thus, as part of the goal to get the remaining map pieces from Kane, we could use one of these conundrum machines to find out where the map pieces are, correct? Am I on the right track?That's not quite how they work - Conundrum Machines are based on the German military's Enigma Machines in World War 2 (with a clever turn on the name) - they don't contain information, they decrypt it. Think of them as an old adding machine - you type a coded message into it, it spits out the message in language you can understand. They won't tell you where Kane's map pieces are (I doubt that's showing up in standard messaging), but if you intercept orders to an Armada ship you could learn when, where, and how big the next assault on the Isle of Fetch will be, or which ships need to be sent back to Valencia for refit. You can see why the Royal Navy wants one. Of course, if the Armada learns you have one, they'll change out the code cylinders and you're back to square one. That's why it's all hush hush.

3. Would the Mag. 7 ever get speaking lines? Of course, in a privateer's case, either Jane or Bill would have to be silent. But, if they suddenly begin having speaking lines, could one of the companions make an inside joke about how our Mag. 7 crew member "finally" began talking.As I've said before, there are SO many talking companions now, adding another 5 or 6 would be a bit difficult to carry off. It's hard enough to keep the MooShu or Presidio 5 from becoming non-entities.

4. I'm curious about the skeleton cowboys in the Haunted Skyway and Miranda. Shouldn't they be skeletons of of birds, not bauble-headed skeletons of humans?Heh. They also are all over Aquila, MooShu, and Skull Island. Either A) there's a lost human culture that was once Spiral wide that has been displaced, or B) we really like to re-use art assets whenever we can.

5. Any chance a goal for one of the main story quests is to defeat a turret boss? You know, that would make for an immensely better challenge than fighting 12 or 10 ships.Hmmmm - turret bosses didn't exist when we first created those quests. Not a bad idea. There have been a few polish sweeps to that area, but we may try to do some more int he future.

While I was in Fort Basset's hall, I noticed a set of doors near the Armory's entrance, and for the moment, it seems to be locked. This leads me to wondering, "What's behind these doors"? I believe it leads to a part of Fort Basset nobody has ever been to before. Do you think this could be worked in as part of a new repeatable side quest in Fort Basset? I would like to see a new optional chamber in there with some new optional bosses, too.Nope, those doors lead outside, to the courtyard outside the Fort i9n the Port Regal exterior. I'm not a fan fo making sub-quests within an encounter, though I might be persuaded in the future...

Before Rooke's second and last battle in Marleybone, he only speaks to Admiral Nelson, not to the Pirates. Also, he doesn't tell them what happened to the stolen Map Piece General Tso sold Rooke to, though I'm sure it was sent to Valencia before Rooke began his new stratagem. I think Rooke should have new dialogue lines added in about where the Map Piece went before he began his "Endgame" plan. Could that happen?I don't see why Rooke would ever talk about that with you. That's a secret.

Also, after Captain Kid said "I'll not be driven out! Leave this place!", Bonnie Anne said "Cap'n, whatever that thing is, it's gone into the Rafters!". That dialogue line made it like she was, to put it simply... oblivious to the ghost of Captain Kid. I think her line should be revised to "Cap'n, whoever it was, went up to the Rafters!". That will make her more obvious to the ghost. Could this be done, Blind Mew?I have no problems with the line as written - she's not oblivious to the ghost, she's just not unsure if that thing was really it.Oh, one more thing. About Boochbeard's voiceover line in the Sigils Tutorial Tip, "See that mark on the floor? It's a Sigil, and that means there's action on the other side o' that door!" it's been sounding the same since... I guess... beta, and it didn't sound like he had the professionalism in that voiceover. Could that dialogue line be revised to make his voiceover line sound more like the professionalism flair Boochbeard gives out?I'm not sure what you mean by professionalism - the delivery is fine to my ear.

so our mother said she was buried in el dorado Who buried her? further more wouldnt the person/people who buried her have her map piece? or did she leave it for use in her willI don't recall her ever saying that... And there's no guarantee she was buried with that piece. Pirates are awfully fond of hiding treasures, you know. As to your parents' burials and fates, we're getting to that. Honest!

for promotion quests is it possible to like combine two companions? what i mean is say ratbeard and catbeard are level ___ and they do the quest together?Hmmmm... I'm not sure that this is a good idea. There may be systems implications I'm not aware of, and for some reason a player might no want to promote a companion (I have no idea why that would be, but player behaviors regarding promotions have surprised me on several occasions. Also, I think it would inevitably dilute the spotlight on the one character - I'd rather have another companion be really chatty during a promo than have two companions on the same quest.

how do you get the water mole sumo? I've seen people in Avery's court with one.I belive you have to beat Chumba Wumba a bunch of times and then he unlocks int he Crown Shop - Jack will know more than I do about that.

i said this in a different post but is egg shen and egg foo young related seeing as in china the last name comes first?I thin I finally got to that question - I thi9nk they're at least cousins. Either that, or Egg is a very common name among Geese (and why wouldn't it be?).

will commander Emmet ever become general emmet or commodore Emmet?He's got more promotions coming - the titles he'll get have yet to materialize.

who was the first companion designed?Wow! Tough one to answer. I'd say the first character we knew would be a companion, specifically a universal one, was Bonnie Anne.

who voiced the troggies?As policy we don't answer these questions. I will say, however, that the actor doesn't sound very much like a Troggy in real life - those sound cues went through a lot of post processing

after getting the taxes from the goat governor (forgot his name) i agree with ratbeard we're pirates i want the gold and bonnie says they need it more then us well bonnie remember that the next time you want companion training points.Heh. We're looking to work more opportunities for true piracy into the game as things go on, but part of this is also the idea that your character is turning from a rapscallion into a hero.

what skyway was your favorite to makeMarleybone. Hands down.

what's your favorite world?The same answer.does lucky jack russel have a kick butt sister? I can picture him having oneHa! I'd never thought about it. But that would be petty cool.

will we ever see the picture of the el dorado crew again *cough* add a place where we can see pictures like the el toro ones *cough* That's an excellent idea - I'll pass it on.

Blind Mew, have you ever thought about referencing or creating a quest in P101 about the Titanic? Would be a great easter egg, or an in dungeon of some sort on a ship that sinks from not an Iceberg but a skysquid or something?

I understand this next question will probably get a "that would be telling" so my question is not designed for an outright answer, but for more of a "it is possible" or a "not going to happen at all". So here it is... When i was looking at the map of Marleybone I noticed that there is sort of a mainland where Big Ben resides. Will we ever enter this mainland, or meet the Queen ( which I presume lives there)?